June 2010 Meal #14: Turkey Patties

Meal # 14 which was turkey patties is one of my lazy meals.  Yesterday I went grocery shopping for our next seven meals and after running around doing errands with a toddler, dinner will have to be something already prepared or something really easy to make.  Coincidently I had planned turkey patties for dinner on the day that I grocery shopped. 

This only took me 5-7 minutes to prepare and cooking was real easy since I have a George Foreman grill.  So all I had to do was use my ice cream scooper, scoop the mixture, plop onto the grill, and close the lid. How simpler could it get?  To those that don't have a George Foreman grill, I really suggest you get one for cooking/grilling not only for burgers but for any other kinds of meats and even veggies too.  I thank our old roommate for getting this contraption for us a few Christmases ago.  Also, by using the ground turkey there was no fat that dripped from cooking it on the Foreman grill. So that's a real plus for those of you looking into trying to control your cholesterol.

The recipe I used for the turkey patties is the same one I used for the meatloaf I made a few meals ago.  The only things I did different was doubling up the ingredients and omitting the ketchup.  I bought a 3 lb. tray of ground turkey so this particular meal is going to last us until at least lunch tomorrow.

TURKEY PATTIES:
Ingredients:
2 envelopes Lipton® Recipe Secrets® Onion Soup Mix
3 lbs. ground turkey
1 1/2 cups plain dry bread crumbs
4 eggs
1 1/2 cups water
pepper to taste

Directions:
Mix all ingredients.  Form into patties and fry or grill til cooked through.

June 2010 Meal #13: Shoyu Chicken

Meal #13 was Shoyu Chicken and it is a really easy meal to make.  It only takes about 5-10 minutes to prepare and about 30-45 minutes cooking time.  You can use a cut up whole chicken but I prefer to use drumettes or thighs for the juicy and tender meat. There are different variations on making shoyu chicken but all it really takes is shoyu, ginger, and sugar as part of the main components.  Here is a recipe I used from the Moanalua High School Project Graduation 2006 fundraising cookbook since this one in particular I already had laying out to plan next months menu plan.

SHOYU CHICKEN
Ingredients:
2-3 lbs. chicken wings or thighs
1 cup water
1 cup shoyu (Aloha brand preferred)
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp. sesame oil
3 to 4 cloves grated ginger, to taste
minced garlic, to taste
sesame seeds, optional
chopped green onions

Directions:
Combine all ingredients in a large pot, except green onions.  Bring to a boil.  Lower heat and simmer 30-45 minutes (until chicken is soft).  Sprinkle with green onions and serve.

Nice and tender shoyu chicken below.

June 2010 Meal #12: Pork Guisantes

Meal #12 Pork Guisantes or Pork and Peas is a really easy Filipino dish, even easier the way I make it.  When I learned how to make it I'd use canned tomato sauce but after moving in with my boyfriend now husband he taught me an easier way to make this dish.  Who would have ever thought of using spaghetti sauce as the base sauce for this? Not me that's who!  This is how he learned it from his mom and it's actually easier and cheaper to use than cans and cans of tomato sauce.  It still turns out great and I make this every so often.

PORK GUISANTES
Ingredients:
2 lbs. chopped pork ie. pork belly, pork butt, or leaner meat if you prefer
1/2 onion, diced
2 tbsp. garlic, minced
1 cup pimientos, sliced or diced
3 cups frozen peas (I just use a small bag of frozen peas)
1 large can spaghetti sauce (I buy the cheapest brand w/garlic and herb seasoning)
oil
salt and pepper


Directions:
Brown pork and garlic in some oil.  Add onions till soft.  Add in pimientos, spaghetti sauce, and frozen peas.  Mix well and let simmer until peas are tender.  Add salt and pepper to taste. 

This only takes about 15-20 minutes to make, real simple.

June 2010 Meal #11: Hamburger Curry

This hamburger curry meal is my "lazy curry" when I don't want to make an actual beef curry stew.  It's really simple to make and only takes about 15-20 minutes to prepare.  For the curry base I used the instant S&B brand in the large size shown in the picture below, which can usually be found in the Asian section of your grocery store.

HAMBURGER CURRY

Ingredients:

2 lbs lean hamburger

2 tbsp. chopped garlic

1 pkg. frozen mixed veggies
Half of an onion, chopped
S & B curry sauce, large size
6 cups water

Directions:
Brown meat with chopped garlic til brown. drain fat.  Add onions till soft. add the 6 cups of water and break curry blocks into pieces.  Stir until curry is dissolved, add frozen veggies.  Simmer until veggies are heated through and when curry has thickened.

This meal is alot for my little family but makes for good leftovers that lasts us at least 2-3 days.  Tastes great for a bed of hot rice.

June 2010 Meal #10: Salmon/Tuna Tofu Patties

It's been awhile since I've made this dish and don't know why I don't do it more often since it's really easy to make.  The recipe I used for this meal is one similar to what my mom had used before, the only difference was adding panko (Japanese bread crumbs) to the mixture.  Don't know why I have never thought of adding panko before because when I used to make make these patties using my mother's recipe it would fall apart when frying.  I have to give a BIG thank you to "Big C' for sharing her recipe on a certain online community, I'll be using your recipe from now on ;o).

SALMON OR TUNA TOFU PATTIES
Ingredients:
2 cans salmon or tuna (I ended up using 3 cans of tuna)
2 blocks tofu, mashed
1/2 diced onion
some shredded carrots
some diced green onions
2 eggs
some Panko flakes (to hold everything together)
Salt and pepper

Directions:
Mix it all up, form into patties and pan fry in olive oil. 

The easiest way to form the patties which I learned from my brother is to use an ice cream scooper with the release thing.  Perfect amount for a patty, just scoop, drop into pan, and flatten patty with a spatula.  As a side note in the picture you will notice there are no green onions, I have a complex about onions being cooked a certain way so I omitted them from the mixture.  Nonetheless, these turned out great.

Making Gnocchi

I have never made gnocchi before and didn't get to watch my brother make it while he was visiting us.  So for the last meal it was my very first time making it and in the end it was pretty simple.  The part of mashing the still tender potatoes was the hardest task.  I had to use a lot of muscle to mash it all up and that took the longest to do.  My brother told me it's easiest to mash the potatoes with a food mill but I don't have one, so I had to use the good ol' potato masher.

I don't have pictures of the actual adding of the ingredients, just only the steps of kneading of the dough through the final outcome.

Father's Day Meal 2010: Ragout w/Sweet Italian Sausage & Homemade Gnocchi

Wishing a belated Happy Father's Day to all the dads out there and any mommy's doing double time too!

On Sunday night I was originally supposed to make tuna tofu patties but decided to postpone that for the next meal.  I wanted to make something special for my husband so I made homemade gnocchi and a ragout with sweet Italian sausage.  I had to use the sausage soon since we got it at the farmer's market a week ago from a vendor that's there every week called Jacobsmuhlen's http://jacobsmuhlens.com/index.htm. They have great tasting sausages in about a dozen different flavors and this vendor is at every Hillsboro Saturday Farmer's Market during the season. 



A while back my brother had been visiting and he bought some fresh chorizo from Jacobsmuhlen's and he made a fresh gnocchi and fennel dish.  My husband liked the chorizo and gnocchi but not fond of the fennel.  He wanted me to make a dish similar to it with the sweet Italian sausage and gnocchi so I had to ask my brother who is a professional cook for some advice.  He then told me to make a ragout, add the sausage, and make some gnocchi.  My brother gave me directions on how to make the gnocchi but I also googled a recipe which I found on Allrecipes.com.  I decided to follow the recipe from the website as a test trial which I'll create another post about my experience making gnocchi for the first time.

When I made the ragout it wasn't from a specific recipe, my brother just told me what it was made of and I just ran with the idea. Overall this was a fairly easy meal to prepare, it was the gnocchi that took the most time.  This meal turned out really well and flavorful that my hubby gave this a go ahead for meal next time around.


GNOCCHI
Ingredients:

2 potatoes

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 egg

Directions:

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil.  Peel potatoes and add to pot.  Cook until tender but still firm, about 15 minutes.  Drain, cool and mash with a fork or potato masher.  Combine 1 cup mashed potato, flour and egg in a large bowl.  Knead until dough forms a ball.  Shape small portions of the dough into long "snakes".  On a floured surface, cut snakes into half-inch pieces.  Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil.  Drop in gnocchi and cook for 3 to 5 minutes or until gnocchi have risen to the top; drain and serve.

RAGOUT
Ingredients
3 green bell peppers, diced
6 Roma tomatoes, chopped
2 tbsp garlic, minced
1/2 onion, diced
8 links Sweet Italian Sausage, sliced and cooked
pepper
salt (optional)
oil

Directions:

Saute garlic and onions in oil until onions are almost translucent.  Add tomatoes, mix and let simmer till nearly soft.  Add bell peppers and sausage,mix and let simmer 5 minutes.  Add prepared gnocchi, mix and add pepper to taste. You may add salt if your sausage doesn't have much flavor, I didn't have to since the sausage I got was really flavorful.  Let simmer 5-7 minutes.

Here's the very yummy outcome.